September 15th, 16th & 17th 2000
After roughly 14 months of having my hotel and a date picked, the very first Cinema Wasteland Movie and Memorabilia Expo arrived. I promoted my ass off, and actually had my dealer’s room sold out by show time, something that never happens with a first time show even to this day. With the help of my buddy, Chris Stavrakis, we contacted and invited as many DAWN OF THE DEAD alumni as we could find for our reunion, and gathered up a dozen cast and crew members, most of which were making their first convention appearance anywhere. The weekend went off without a single problem I can remember, and attending fans almost demanded that we do it again as Sunday drew to a close. After every bill was paid for, the show made just over two hundred bucks. I was now the only convention promoter that I personally knew that did not lose money on their first show, so hell, why not a second Wasteland show!?...
Guests for the first Cinema Wasteland Show included our Dawn of the Dead Reunion:
JAMES BAFFICO - Dawn of the Dead’s crazy SWAT member, “Wooley”
TONY BUBA - Dawn of the Dead raider that got caught in the blood pressure machine.
DAVID EARLY - Dawn of the Dead’s WGON-TV commentator, “Sidney Berman”
DAVID EMGE - Dawn of the Dead’s “Stephen” aka Flyboy.
KEN FOREE - Dawn of the Dead’s “Peter Washington”
JIM KRUT - Dawn of the Dead’s “Helicopter Zombie”
LEONARD LIES - Dawn of the Dead’s “Machete Zombie”
BOB MICHELUCCI - Dawn of the Dead “Zombie”
TOM SAVINI - Dawn of the Dead Effects, stunts, and motorcycle raider.
MARTY SCHIFF - Dawn of the Dead’s “Pie Throwing Motorcycle Raider”
NICK TALLO - Dawn of the Dead’s “Bomba”, the grenade-tossing biker.
Other Guests included:
CONRAD BROOKS - Mr. “Plan 9 From Outer Space” himself!
BILL HINZMAN - Night of the Living Dead’s very own “Graveyard Zombie”
KEVIN LINDENMUTH - Indy director: Alien Agenda and Addicted to Murder films, etc.
TED V. MIKELS - Writer, producer, and director: Astro-Zombies, Corpse Grinders, etc.
JEFF PITTARELLI - Fantasy artist.
JOHN RUSSO - Night of the Living Dead screenwriter. Director: Midnight, Booby Hatch, etc.
TOM SULLIVAN - Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2 effects man, animator, and artist.
DAWN OF THE DEAD's Dave Emge, Ken Foree and Scott Reiniger
11 of the 12 DAWN OF THE DEAD cast members all on stage together. From left to right: Jim Krut, Jim Baffico, Tony Buba, Len Lies, Dave Emge, David Early, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, Marty Schiff, Tom Savini, and Nick Tallo.
Fellow Dawn wrangler, Chris Stavrakis, with the "Flyboy" bust he did.
Promoter Ken and DAWN OF THE DEAD superfan, Yoshi, who traveled from Japan to join us for our Dawn Reunion. Yoshi is one reason the promoter won't listen to cheap excuses as to why fans can't make any given show.
Our ol' pals, Ted V. Mikels and Mexi-mask wearing Shanti.
The first appearance of Tom Sullivan and his Evil Dead Museum, where fans got a chance to see original artwork and props from EVIL DEAD.
FROM PARTS UNKNOWN magazine's very own Mr.
Unknown and Evil Dick Jr.
Photos copyright © 2000 Mike Manikowski
and may not be reproduced without written permission.
Contact may be made through the VW Inc. website.
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